Algeria army kills three Islamists

Algeria's army said Sunday that it had killed three armed Islamists and captured several others in an ongoing operation in the country's east.

The joint operation by the army and other security forces in Constantine and Skikda, underway since June 11, has led to "the elimination of three terrorists, the capture of three others and eight people who were supporting criminal groups, and the surrender of another terrorist," a defence ministry statement said.

Weapons, ammunition and money were also recovered, the ministry said.

More than 40 armed Islamists have been killed in Algerian army operations in the country's mountainous east since the start of the year, according to official figures.

Algerian authorities use the word "terrorist" to refer to armed Islamists active in the country since the start of the 1990s.

Bloodshed blamed on such fighters -- who took up arms against the state during a decade of brutal civil war from 1992 -- has lessened significantly, but such groups continue to clash regularly with security forces.